More Kenyans going to their places of work: report

Google’s latest weekly Covid-19 Community Mobility Report reveals that more Kenyans are going to their places of work, an increase of 16 per cent in the last one week.

This has seen reduced movement in residential areas to 20 percent from 25 per cent.

The report also revealed that more Kenyans are also avoiding crowded places while recreational areas like restaurants, shopping centers, movie theatres have recorded a 5 percent reduction in movement.

The recent government’s directive on reopening of restaurants they say might see a significant change in the figures in the next report.

According to the report, there were fewer visits by Kenyans to the grocery and pharmacy spaces, a 7 per cent movement reduction. The trend is the same with national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas and public gardens that saw a 3 per cent reduction in movement. Fewer people used public transport such as buses and trains witnessing a  6 percent reduction in movement.

The Community Mobility Report also provides county-level data in which indictaed w 16 per cent more Nairobi residents travelled to work causing a 8 per cent reduction in those within residential spaces.

In Mombasa, there is a 10 per cent increase in people within work spaces and a 2 per cent reduction in people moving within residential areas.

Kisumu has recorded an increase of 14 percent of those going to work and a 3 per cent reduction of movement in residential spaces in the past week.

The Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports are part of Google’s global response to the coronavirus pandemic to help people and public health officials understand responses to social distancing guidance related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reports use aggregated, anonymised data to chart movement trends over time by geography, across different high-level categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, public transport termini, workplaces, and residential.